Curtis Granderson stayed up past his bedtime

It’s funny how when the Yanks win, I don’t really have much to say. Chien-Ming Wang looked as good as he’s looked all season, and the offense did it’s job. I have to wonder what’s going on with Jason Giambi and his playing time, and I’m beginning to wonder if something did actually happen between Chris Britton and the Yanks. But we’ll get to that in due time.

I wanted to, instead, attract your attention to a very interesting blog post. Over at ESPN.com, Tigers centerfielder Curtis Granderson has kept up a blog during the season. Yesterday afternoon, after recovering from Friday’s marathon, he posted about starting a game at 11:05 p.m. Other than effusively thanking all of the fans (like me) who stayed up to watch the game, Granderson opined on playing baseball past the witching hour:

That was something I had never really been a part of before, and it was weird how your body and mind react. The start time of 11:05 p.m. wasn’t that bad because we have played extra-inning games that have gone later than that. The problem came once we hit the 2-a.m. mark. That is when I started looking at guys and seeing the sleepiness start to set in for everyone. I think the toughest thing about last night involved the guys who had to enter the game late (Bobby Abreu, 1:50 a.m.; Sean Casey, 2:00; Jose Molina, 2:05; and all the bullpen pitchers) and try to produce.

When Carlos Guillen hit the walk-off home run, the first thing out of my mouth was, “We finally get to go home.” I was so just ready for the game so we could finally leave the park. After leaving the ballpark and eating, I made it to bed around 5. Now I have to be back and ready to do it again tonight.

To me, this is fascinating. It really shows a more human side of these baseball players. They aren’t animatronic baseball machines. Just like you and me, when 1 a.m. rolls around, they’re actually tired. So as much of a chore it was for us to stay up watching baseball until nearly 4 a.m. on Friday night/Saturday morning, it was even harder for those playing the game.

And, hey, it was definitely past Joe Torre’s bedtime. Sixty-seven-year-olds just shouldn’t be staying up that late.